The Business
Childhood Friends Take 'The Help' from Bestseller to Big Screen
This week, Kathryn Stockett, author of the bestselling novel The Help, and her childhood friend Tate Taylor, who has written and directed the new movie based on the book.
By Kim Masters • • 28m ListenWell before The Help was a bestseller and a major motion picture, Kathryn Stockett -- who'd racked up 60 rejection letters from literary agents and as yet was unable to get a publisher -- gave Tate Taylor the movie rights to her unpublished manuscript. The two talk about how she did this despite everyone in her life having told her not to, how the contract they wrote was far from formal and yet how committed they both became to making this movie happen that way. In fact, they were so committed and stubborn that once Hollywood got interested Dreamworks studio had no choice but to make the film with Taylor as the writer/director.
Today's Banter Topics:
- Television Critics Association presentations from networks has new stars coming into old roles-- Ashton Kutcher on Two and a Half Men, Ted Danson on CSI and James Spader on The Office
